WASHINGTON'S PASS IS NO GEM FOR NETS

By MICHAEL MARTINEZ, Special to the New York Times

Published: January 24, 1987

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Jan. 23—
Was it a smart play or a rookie mistake? Pearl Washington wanted to believe he had done the right thing tonight, that his lob pass to Orlando Woolridge should have resulted in a basket at a critical stage for the Nets. Instead, it resulted in a turnover and contributed to a 125-120 loss to the Seattle SuperSonics at Byrne Meadowlands Arena.

Washington's pass came in the final 35 seconds of the game with the Nets trailing by 121-118. It was not the play that had been designed by Coach Dave Wohl, but the rookie guard -whose season has been marked by a progression of mistakes - said later that he saw an opening and merely took it.

But the pass was too high, skipping off Woolridge's fingertips and falling out of bounds. And when Dale Ellis put in a jump shot at the other end with 16 seconds remaining, the Nets were sent to their seventh loss in eight games. Chalking It Up to Experience

''Any kind of play that doesn't work makes you feel like maybe you shouldn't have tried it,'' Washington said later. ''The pass was just a little off. But that's experience for me and for the team. It was tough because we needed this win.''

The defeat came as the Nets prepared to make a five-game road trip through the West that begins Tuesday at Sacramento. Their road record of 2-17 is the worst in the Eastern Conference.

But Washington did not feel he had necessarily made a poor play lobbing high to Woolridge, who scored a season-high 38 points, despite the fact Tony Brown was open on the left side. The play was originally designed for Woolridge to go one-on-one against Xavier McDaniel of Seattle, but the Net forward passed back to Washington when he failed to work free.

''He threw it back to me with the idea the pressure would come back,'' Washington said. ''I figured it was a smart play to go back-door.''

But Woolridge conceded afterward that he was surprised to see the high pass.

''A little bit,'' he said, ''but I can't put the whole game on that. He's told me before that if the back-door was there, he'd look for it. But I won't put the blame on him. If it had worked, everyone would be cheering.''

Wohl said: ''He's a rookie guard. You don't throw the lob in that situation.''

Woolridge and Buck Williams, who finished with 32 and 10 rebounds tonight, combined for 70 of the Nets' 120 points. They had 19 of their team's final 21 points in the game over the last 7 minutes 52 seconds. Williams on a Roll

In his last three games, Williams has totaled 92 points and 41 rebounds, but the Nets lost two of the games and now are staring at a potentially disastrous trip that includes stops in Sacramento, Los Angeles to play the Clippers, Portland, Golden State and Seattle.

''A win would have given us motivation going on the road trip,'' Williams said, ''but now we've got to motivate ourselves. You hate to leave with a loss, but at least we know we're playing teams that we've played well against in the past.''

They saw this game slip away in the third period, falling behind by 10 points at one stage before finally pulling into a tie at 116-116 in the fourth when Williams scored over Tom Chambers.

They tied it again at 118-118 before Maurice Lucas, the 34-year-old journeyman, put a power move down low on Tony Brown and scored. He drew a foul, made the shot and put the Sonics ahead by three, 121-118.

That's when the Nets came down looking for Woolridge. But Washington tried the unlikely lob, and it turned into a turnover and a defeat.